Overcoming Distance and Hardships: A Phenomenological Study of School Heads being Assigned in the Hinterlands

This qualitative-phenomenological study aims to explore and investigate the lived experiences, coping mechanisms, and insights of public-school heads in overcoming the distance and hardship in the hinterland. A purposive sample was utilized in selecting the participants; the study focused on the experiences of fifteen (15) public school-heads in the hinterland where ten (10) school heads participated in in-depth interview, and five (5) school heads participated in a virtual focus group discussion. Data coding and thematic analysis were utilized to analyze the data gathered from the participants' responses. From the experiences of participants, six themes emerged, including some issues that appeared from the problem, namely (1) encountering hurdles on resource scarcity, (2) feeling a sense of accomplishment, (3) upholding community engagement, (4) dealing issues on geographic isolation, (5) developing personal resilience and adaptation, and (6) doing personal and family sacrifices. To address the issues, teachers mentioned various ways as their coping mechanisms and nine themes emerged: (1) building community partnership, (2) utilizing resourcefulness and innovation, (3) having emotional and psychological support, (4) taking consideration leadership development, (5) building professional support network. Five themes emerged from the insights cited by the participants that they could share with others, namely: (1) seeing the importance of community engagement and collaboration, (2) being resilient and adaptable, (3) adhering to professional development and teacher support, (4) focusing on one’s health and well-being, and (5) having long-term vision and sustainability. The study highlights the importance of resilience, community collaboration, and teacher support for school heads in remote areas, especially in the Division of Davao del Norte. Recommendations for the Department of Education include investing in resilience-building and continuous teacher support programs to improve education in the hinterlands. Lastly to the future researcher could explore the impact of involving parents and local leaders in school decisions on student success.